August has arrived, and I think this summer has flown by faster than any other I can remember. Get used to it, said my friends in their 60s. The older we get, the faster time goes. It is what it is.After we wrote last month about people ignoring our phone calls, apparently it worked for some because weíve had much better responses to our calls this month.We discussed the subject of people not returning phone calls at our last editorial meeting, and concluded that regardless of the subject matter, itís just plain rude to ignore phone calls. Given that, we started talking about other human behaviors that indicate the demise of social graces. Based on our discussion, we decided that we would write a paragraph or two on what we have experienced We asked everyone to come up with an experience that highlighted theI looked up Americansí No. 1 pet peeve, and I found the obvious, from chewing food with your mouth open to throwing trash out of your car window. Then I looked up the demise of social graces, and realized that the ìmannersî our foremothers taught us are waning. I listed the top social habits that need to be refreshed on Pg. 10, alongside the write-ups from our team.And this gives me the perfect segue to reference Markís Meanderings, which is all about marriage and relationships and how to keep them working over the years. Mark quotes a couple of famous people about how they deal with relationships with people. Adhering to social graces and committing to someone go hand in hand.The growing season is short and challenging in Colorado, and Bill Radford in his column, Prairie Life, reveals why he traded his garden for a pool!August is back-to-school month, so watch for children walking to school, getting on and off the buses and waiting at the school for pickups. Speaking of D 49, in our series on population growth, Lindsey Harrison reports on how the district is dealing with a substantial growth in student population.We would also like to hear your opinions on growth in the area. And if you have subjects on growth you would like addressed or ideas for our series, please send your comments, etc. to marylou@kekotiledesigns.com.There are five Saturdays in August, so we have an extra week before our September issue is on the stands. Meanwhile, enjoy the dog days of summer (check out Phun Photos) and have a wonderful August.See you in September! (For those of you who are a bit older, I always want to sing when I write that every year.)– Michelle
